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I'm a Christian. But I've never met any other Christian that believes the same way I do. Don't read the Bible often, don't go to church often. But I believe God knows how I feel about these things. I talk to God every day, and I know he hears me. Too many unbelievable things have happened in my life to NOT believe in God.

God, in Christianity, is a representative of three beings; The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

In a sense then, Christians give worship and praise to Jesus, because he represents the "Son" portion of the greater "God." It's not taking away from God, because Jesus is simply the portion of God sent to Earth to pay the ultimate price for man's sin.

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Originally Posted by Vexx

The three are one and each is separate yet a seamless part of the three. The best you can tag Trinity discussions with is that its "one of the mysteries" kind of like quantum mechanics -- if you think you grok it... you haven't grokked it. The best I've ever come up with is my diamond analogy for religion in general applied to the Trinity. You can see some of the facets and the sparkles but its impossible for mortals to see the whole diamond at once.

The best analogy I've heard for the Holy Trinity is to imagine God as having three different states. Just as water comes in liquid, solid and gaseous states, so too does God — He exists as the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

My thanks to Ledgem and Kyuusai for elaborating the differences between Judaism and Christianity. Your posts make for very interesting reading.

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Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyuusai

I'm not suggesting it's not possible the whole thing could have started from tales that grew like a rolling snowball, but the history we have covering this to either confirm or deny the claims other than the documents of the NT is... slim to non-existent.

That's the point, isn't it? Something happened. Exactly what? Nobody knows. Were miracles involved? Was it really as big as we think? Was there really only one person? No way to tell.

"What is history but a myth agreed upon?"

Personally, I don't think it matters whether there is any veracity in anything we believe happened in the past. Let's face it, even in matters of secular history, we aren't completely sure if we recorded everything as it actually happened in real life, let alone in matters of religion where miracles are apparently commonplace.

It doesn't matter if it's make-belief, or if it's Truth, written large. I'm more concerned about the kinds of actions that such records would inspire, rather than the documents themselves.

And I think the record clearly shows that humans can be inspired to really stupid things. They are just as likely to be inspired to carry out the most selfless acts of kindness. That's part of the tragedy of being human.

Religion can be a good thing you know. If there wasn't any different types of religion then we wouldn't know how expressive people can be. All these new things we see people do when they are in religion, it's awesome. If possible wouldn't it be a good thing to have more religions ? I support having more of that ! GO RELIGION.

No, after you cut out all the chaff -- that's about as clear as it gets. The three are one and each is separate yet a seamless part of the three. The best you can tag Trinity discussions with is that its "one of the mysteries" kind of like quantum mechanics -- if you think you grok it... you haven't grokked it. The best I've ever come up with is my diamond analogy for religion in general applied to the Trinity. You can see some of the facets and the sparkles but its impossible for mortals to see the whole diamond at once.
(caveat: I don't 'believe' in the Trinity, though I still use the diamond analogy for a model of many people finding "truths"/facets of the Truth -- kind of a Universalism armwave).

I'll refrain from opining on the Trinity other than it was one of the many research moments in my life that started leading me on other paths.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

The best analogy I've heard for the Holy Trinity is to imagine God as having three different states. Just as water comes in liquid, solid and gaseous states, so too does God — He exists as the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

I like those. My favorite analogy is describing them as different parts of the body: head and two hands/fingers, since what really is being described is God and two ways he's "packaged" his presence on earth.

But I wonder what the need to focus on these analogies is! This idea of a "Trinity" has been one of the most vaunted, revered concepts in Christianity... when there's no need for such a concept to begin with. Oh, unless the text is misinterpreted! *grumbles*

My thanks to Ledgem and Kyuusai for elaborating the differences between Judaism and Christianity. Your posts make for very interesting reading.[/quote]

Thank you. I admit that I'd be talking a lot less here if I weren't so acutely aware of the idiocy demonstrated by so many people associated with my faith.

you know what i find very interesting.... how people always put God in the context of "he" when i think the term god should never be inolved with such terms that would lessen such a great spiritual being to be a human

also, if you put god in the terms of a human, why must it be a "he"? personally i think it would be more fitting to have God be personified (if necessary) as a woman... as such thoughts of a great spiritual being giving life to all existence resembles much to a woman giving birth to a new human life...

LOL now after just realizing what i just said.... why when referring to such spiritual force must christianity insist on genderizing the term and call him "god" in the first place?

... also is it just me or are woman always being degraded in the bible? most were looked down upon as sluts and prostitutes : /

-mary Magdalene was introduced as a prostitute...
- Mary the mother of jesus looked down upon as a slut because it appeared that she commited infidelity towards joseph...
- and uhhhh since i dont go to church anymore i dont remember her name... but she was married to a soldier and commited adultery with the king or a high official because the king/high official really liked her... and later the king/high official had her husband killed and it made her look like a complete skank in most of the eyes of christians....

this tale is meant to show how adultery is wrong and such and how woman shouldnt cheat on their husbands blah, blah, blah.... but my impression was how men can be chauvenist and believe that anything is theres for the taking.... including women

so anyway yeah there are many other examples i just feel like i have wasted enough of your life as it is...

you know what i find very interesting.... how people always put God in the context of "he" when i think the term god should never be inolved with such terms that would lessen such a great spiritual being to be a human

also, if you put god in the terms of a human, why must it be a "he"? personally i think it would be more fitting to have God be personified (if necessary) as a woman... as such thoughts of a great spiritual being giving life to all existence resembles much to a woman giving birth to a new human life...

LOL now after just realizing what i just said.... why when referring to such spiritual force must christianity insist on genderizing the term and call him "god" in the first place?

Using "He" to refer to God is not an aspect of religion so much as it is an aspect of the language. However, God is called the "Father" because that is the best description of what the human relationship with Him is considered to be.

Judaism and Christianity absolutely recognize the "feminine" aspect of God in creation, but God doesn't have gender. Such descriptions are just metaphors as we view God in terms of our own experience and understanding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Girl_who_cried_gnome

... also is it just me or are woman always being degraded in the bible? most were looked down upon as sluts and prostitutes : /

-mary Magdalene was introduced as a prostitute...
- Mary the mother of jesus looked down upon as a slut because it appeared that she commited infidelity towards joseph...
- and uhhhh since i dont go to church anymore i dont remember her name... but she was married to a soldier and commited adultery with the king or a high official because the king/high official really liked her... and later the king/high official had her husband killed and it made her look like a complete skank in most of the eyes of christians....

this tale is meant to show how adultery is wrong and such and how woman shouldnt cheat on their husbands blah, blah, blah.... but my impression was how men can be chauvenist and believe that anything is theres for the taking.... including women

so anyway yeah there are many other examples i just feel like i have wasted enough of your life as it is...

It's just you. Mosaic law was written to accommodate an already misogynistic society, but women are not degraded by the moral and theological teaching. Mary Magdalene was considered a virtuous women despite her past. Mary was only viewed as adulterous by those around her, and was recorded as actually being virtuous. There are positive portrayals of women as well as negative, just as is the case for men.

you know what i find very interesting.... how people always put God in the context of "he" when i think the term god should never be inolved with such terms that would lessen such a great spiritual being to be a human

also, if you put god in the terms of a human, why must it be a "he"? personally i think it would be more fitting to have God be personified (if necessary) as a woman... as such thoughts of a great spiritual being giving life to all existence resembles much to a woman giving birth to a new human life...

LOL now after just realizing what i just said.... why when referring to such spiritual force must christianity insist on genderizing the term and call him "god" in the first place?

... also is it just me or are woman always being degraded in the bible? most were looked down upon as sluts and prostitutes : /

-mary Magdalene was introduced as a prostitute...
- Mary the mother of jesus looked down upon as a slut because it appeared that she commited infidelity towards joseph...
- and uhhhh since i dont go to church anymore i dont remember her name... but she was married to a soldier and commited adultery with the king or a high official because the king/high official really liked her... and later the king/high official had her husband killed and it made her look like a complete skank in most of the eyes of christians....

this tale is meant to show how adultery is wrong and such and how woman shouldnt cheat on their husbands blah, blah, blah.... but my impression was how men can be chauvenist and believe that anything is theres for the taking.... including women

so anyway yeah there are many other examples i just feel like i have wasted enough of your life as it is...

i'm LDS, and common belief in our church is that although God is male, he has a wife as well who holds similar powers. they simply possess different roles.

i can understand why one would see God as genderless, but at the same time it's something that does not make a lot of sense to me.

If God is the creator of all things then who created God ? How was God able to do the things he has done ? Doesn't he need food or had parents ? Did he just appear out of thin air ? And if he is the creator of all things how can he appear out of something he has created ?

i can understand why one would see God as genderless, but at the same time it's something that does not make a lot of sense to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemstar

If God is the creator of all things then who created God ? How was God able to do the things he has done ? Doesn't he need food or had parents ? Did he just appear out of thin air ? And if he is the creator of all things how can he appear out of something he has created ?

Both of these aspects view God in terms of life forms as we know them. All life has some form of sexuality, and all life is a product of life. God is something else. The Bible claims that God made man "in His image" but I don't know that God should be considered anything like a person. As far as we know and speculate, God isn't like other life - it's something else entirely.